vavasour Now arch. and Hist.
(ˈvævəsʊə(r))
Forms: α. 4 vauasour(e, 4, 7– vavasour (4 -oure), 5 favasour, Sc. wawasour, vauesowre, 7 vavesour; 5 vavyssoure, vauyssour, 7 vauessour, vauassour, 9 vavassour. β. 5 vauaser, 7, 9 vavasor, vavassor. γ. 6–7 valuasor, 6–8 -vasor, 7–8 valvasour, 9 valvassor.
[a. OF. vavas(s)our, vavas(s)or, vavasseur (so mod.F.), or med.L. vavassor, valvassor, also vasvassor, app. f. vassi vassorum ‘vassals of vassals’. Cf. OProv. va(l)vasor, It. varvassore, -oro, barbassore, -oro.]
A feudal tenant ranking immediately below a baron.
| α 13.. K. Alis. 3300 (Laud MS.), Noot ich no tale of his squyers, Ne of vavasours, ne of Bachilers. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 10996 He gaf giftes of honurs, & landes & rentes, to vauasours. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 430 Litel prowesse for me it were wiþ a vauasour for to melle. 1456 Sir G. Haye Bk. Knthood. iii. (S.T.S.) 21 All kingis suld have under thame dukkis and princis, Erllis and vicountes, and vauvassouris and barouns. a 1500 Lancelot 1729 Syne to thi tennandis & to thi wawasouris, If [= give] essy haknays, palfrais, and cursouris. 1614 Selden Titles Honour ii. v. §4 Now for the nature of a vavasour;..it is plain that he was ever beneath a baron. 1647 N. Bacon Disc. Govt. Eng. i. xxxi. (1739) 47 Others served on horseback, and were called Rad-Knights,..and these I take to be the Vavasours, noted in the Conqueror's Laws. 1660 R. Sheringham King's Supremacy Asserted (1682) v. 32 There are other great men under the King which are called Barons, and other which are called Vavasours, men of great dignity. 1756 Connoisseur No. 102 ¶1 Upon my accession..to my elder brother's estate and title of a Baronet I received a visit from Rouge Dragon..to congratulate me upon my new rank of a Vavasour. 1766 Blackstone Comm. II. 65 William the conqueror..directing..that a certain quantity..should be paid by the earls, barons, and vavasours respectively. 1831 Scott Cast. Dang. vii, One or two Scottish retainers or vavasours..sat at the bottom of the table. 1848 Lytton Harold iii. ii, The.. ignominious flight of the counts and vavasours of great William the Duke. 1875 Stubbs Const. Hist. II. xv. 207 It was ordered that the sheriff should be a vavasour of the County. |
| β c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 360 A schirreue hadde he ben and a counter, Was nowher such a worthi vauaser. 1605 Camden Rem., Surnames (1623) 110 Baron, Knight,..Vavasor, Squire, Castellan. 1642 Bird Mag. Honour 8 There be others which are called Vavasors,..men of great dignity. 1656 Harrington Oceana 35 The Middle-Thane was feudall, but not honorary; he was also call'd a Vavasor. 1818 Hallam Mid. Ages (1872) I. 194 The vassals of this high nobility, who..were usually termed Vavassors. 1875 K. E. Digby Real Prop. (1876) 41 note, Similar provisions follow as to the relief to be paid by barons, vavassors, and villeins. |
| γ 1577 Harrison England ii. v. (1877) i. 113 As for the valvasors, it was a denomination applied unto all degrees of honor under the first three. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. 696 The Kings Valvasors in times past they were. 1614 Selden Titles Hon. 289 For a Corollarie to this Discourse of Barons, we add..the ancient title of Vauassours or Valuasors. 1708 J. Chamberlayne St. Gt. Brit. i. iii. iv. (1710) 186 Baronets..are constituted in the Room of the Ancient Valvasours, between the Barons of England, and the Orders of Knights. 1765 Blackstone Comm. I. 403 The first name of dignity, next beneath a peer, was antiently that of vidames, vice domini, or valvasors. 1840 Browning Sordello i. 768 Lord, liegeman, valvassor and suzerain, Ere he could choose, surrounded him. 1854 Milman Lat. Chr. III. 57 Heribert refused to admit the valvassors of the Church of Milan to this privilege. |